On this date, March 16,
2020, Satoshi Uematsu was sentenced to death over a stabbing rampage in 2016 at
a care home near Tokyo for people with mental disabilities that left 19
residents dead and 26 others injured.
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Satoshi
Uematsu when he was detained in 2016
[PHOTO
SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51903289]
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Killer of 19 at Sagamihara disabled care home sentenced to
death
Kyodo, AFP-JIJI, AP, Reuters
Satoshi
Uematsu, a 30-year-old former employee of the care facility in Sagamihara,
Kanagawa Prefecture, had admitted to the killings in hearings during his lay
judge trial at the Yokohama District Court. He insisted that people with
disabilities who are unable to communicate well do not have human rights.
Sentencing
Uematsu to death by hanging, presiding Judge Kiyoshi Aonuma cited the violence
of the crime. “This crime was pre-meditated and there
was strong evidence of the desire to kill,” Aonuma told a courtroom filled with
family members of the victims. “The maliciousness of this was extreme,” he
added.
Uematsu,
dressed in a black suit and with long hair tied back in a ponytail, sat looking
calmly at the judge during the court session.
Prosecutors
had demanded the death penalty for Uematsu, while the defense team had argued
he was mentally incompetent and should not be held criminally responsible for
his actions.
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Uematsu
told the court last month he would not appeal the ruling, no matter the
outcome. The defense said the defendant’s personality had drastically changed
since 2015 due to his use of marijuana, which it claimed triggered his mental
disorder and the attack.
In
demanding capital punishment, prosecutors cited the large number of victims and
Uematsu’s discriminatory remarks against people with disabilities. The rampage
was “inhumane” and left “no room for leniency,” they argued last month.
There
had been issues with Uematsu’s behavior in court including him apparently
trying to put something in his mouth, disrupting proceedings, in the first
hearing in January. The judge called a recess and then resumed without him.
Murder
was one of six charges he faced.
Uematsu
also defended himself, arguing his actions do not deserve the death penalty. He
reportedly said he wanted to eradicate all disabled people in the horrifying
attack, which also left 26 people wounded. He turned himself in to police after
the assault, carrying bloodied knives.
It
later emerged he had left his job at the home just months earlier, and had been
forcibly hospitalized after telling colleagues he intended to kill disabled
people at the facility.
Uematsu
had been discharged after 12 days when a doctor decided he was not a threat. He
had also written a letter outlining plans to attack the home, claiming
“disabled people only create unhappiness.”
Among
the few victims to be identified publicly was a 19-year-old woman, Miho, whose
mother had said at the court that Uematsu “didn’t need a future.”
“I hate you so much. I want to rip you apart. Even the most extreme
penalty is light for you. I will never forgive you,” her mother said,
according to public broadcaster NHK. “Please bring back
my most precious daughter. … You’re still alive. It’s not fair. It’s wrong.”
“I demand capital punishment,” she said.
Uematsu
has shown no remorse for the attack, telling the Mainichi Shimbun daily that
people with mental disabilities “have no heart,” and that for them “there’s no
point in living.”
“I
had to do it for the sake of society,” he said.
Uematsu
also told medical staff and officials that he was influenced by the ideas of
Nazi Germany leader Adolf Hitler, whose killings of disabled people were seen
as actions intended to improve what was described as a master race.
Uematsu’s
beliefs shocked Japan, with experts and activists raising questions about
whether others might hold similar views.
Japan
has been making efforts to increase accessibility — particularly in Tokyo ahead
of this year’s Paralympic Games — and activists hailed last year’s election of
two disabled lawmakers.
But
some critics feel the country still falls short of fully including people with
disabilities.
INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/03/16/national/crime-legal/japan-verdict-sagamihara-murder-disabled/#.Xm973nJS_IU
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Japanese wanted posters are nothing if not
graphic. Hung outside Japanese police boxes (koban) and in railway stations –
the posters show a photograph of the wanted person, their crime and the amount
of reward the Japanese police are offering for information leading to their
arrest.
https://www.japanallover.com/2010/03/japanese-wanted-posters/ https://www.facebook.com/VictimsFamiliesForTheDeathPenalty/posts/1701317066656919 |
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